Ladle into greased muffin papers. Bake for about 20 minutes in 350 degree oven, or until beginning to brown, but firm in middle. Remove to wire racks. Allow to cool (ha, ha) before serving with butter. Yum!

Variations: zucchini is a great substitute for bananas in summertime when they are so plentiful. Add some cinnamon for flavor and 1 TB. coconut flour for texture/firmness. You may need to bake these in a slightly cooler oven for a little longer as the zucchini add more moisture to the batter.

This recipe is featured with Fajita Salad in Day Two of my Diet Makeover Series.

3-4 ripe avocados: firm yet soft when pressed with the finger

Rinse clean, slice in half lengthwise and pop the pit out (hold avo half in hand, with large sharp knife in other hand chop the blade into the pit and give a half turn to release pit from flesh), then scoop out flesh with spoon as shown above. Mash in medium glass bowl with a fork.

Add juice from 1 lime or lemon (lime is best). Bottled lime or lemon juice does not work; it must be fresh!

Add granulated garlic (1tsp?) and fine sea salt (1.5 tsp?). I keep tasting as I go until I like it…and I generally like it with a lot of lime/lemon and salt, and go lighter on the garlic. Also, if you’re eating it with veggies rather than salted chips, you’ll want it on the saltier side.

Turn crockpot on high for one hour, then low all day. About an hour before serving, use two forks to shred cooked chicken and incorporate it into liquid. Adjust salt, and leave lid off for last hour if there is excess liquid.

This will yield several meals; I always like leftovers for lunch the next day or as a freezer meal.

It’s day two. I get up just after 7 and find Brother and Sister sitting at the kitchen counter, staring blankly at bowls of sliced apples their dad got for them. Oh boy, it’s day two, the hardest day.

Mr. Dad says Sister threw up a little already this morning, but there wasn’t food in it (sorry for TMI!), so he thinks the diet is already making some effect…detox? Way to go on the positive outlook, Mr. Dad!

After three fried eggs and some juice, Mr. Dad leaves for work. The kids are still staring blankly at their apples, but my eight year old is up by now and turns on the cartoons, so they stumble into the den to watch with her. Just for the record; I don’t let my kids watch movies till noon at home (or at all on schooldays) but it’s vacation with cousins, and it’s actually an excellent distraction from food cravings. OK, done justifying my mommy morals.

When scrambled eggs were ready, I called the kids back to the kitchen, but Brother didn’t come. Found him laying on the couch, mumbling. I carried him back to his eggs but he was so tired, no amount of coaxing would get him to put a bite in his mouth. I knew he was really hungry, even if he couldn’t feel it, so I stuck a slab of butter in his mouth and told him to suck on it. After a bit he took himself back to bed and sawed logs until almost noon.

Breakfast:Eggs, scrambled or fried in butterApples, ripe bananas, mandarins as desired, or as snacks until lunch

Lunch:Chicken veggie bone broth soup, from last nightChicken salad on greens with balsamic and pecans, same as Day One, for adultsPeanut butter and apple slices, afternoon snack sent with Mr. Dad

Brother and sister hated having soup again, the moms enjoyed it, and baby Mac sucked it up (literally). My kids (8 and 18 months are the ones I have with me this week) gobbled it up, which is proof to me that children’s tastes can change to include savory flavors as well as sweet; it was not too long ago that my kids were kicking and screaming over soup, too.

Mrs. Mom did a great job on holding the line on no snacks if you didn’t eat your soup; Sister had earned her snacks (fruit, raisins, almonds) by mid-afternoon. Brother only ate about half his soup, so was REALLY ready for dinner.

We had quite a bit of drama all day, begging for toast, cereal, gummy vitamins, tortillas, candy (Mrs.Mom: “Really? We don’t eat candy!”). All these cravings for the exact wrong foods are confirming evidence that we’re onto something here. At one point Brother was upset about not being given bread, “not even one little crumb of bread? You’re so mean!” Oh, the drama.

Dinner: Fajita filling, done all day in the crockpot, over salad greens, topped with Creme Fraiche made yesterday, and guacamole
Note: if you make this, use finely shredded green cabbage tossed with chopped cilantro and lots of lime juice as the base rather than lettuce. The crunch makes it so yummy with this meal. We did not do this as Mrs. Mom was worried about grassiness in breast milk.

After dinner:Grape jello if desired

After such a hard day food wise, it was a huge relief that the kids loved the fajita bowls and relished dipping their salad leaves in the Creme Fraiche and guacamole. Fun, and so yummy for everyone!

Ok, here’s a more thorough pantry review. We sorted all the SCD legal foods onto one shelf, and left the illegals on the other shelves.

I’ll show you the illegal first. Pantry door:

And two high shelves:

And the same two shelves, this time panning further into the pantry:

And then a lower (kid eye height) with the legal foods (lowest shelf illegal again):

We see canned tomatoes, tuna, chicken, and fruit with no sugar.

And panning to the left on this “legal” shelf:

We see canned pumpkin, capers, pure juices, marinara (this one the fat-free version of Wholefoods brand has no sugar or soy/canola oil). In the picture you can see unsweetened chocolate which is not allowed on most SCD lists, but it may be used in moderation later on.

It’s a little discouraging to look at all the “can’t eats” but we’re not throwing them out at this point. If American Family has gluten testing which comes back positive, the gluten products will have to go, but they may want to use some of the sugary things for holiday baking. Those decisions are bridges to cross in the future.

Here’s a picture of baby Mac playing with his mom today. He’s doing so great. He’s been on the upswing since Friday (came home from hospital Saturday) but was still experiencing low grade fevers, and was in obvious discomfort and had congested breathing.

On Monday Mrs. Mom rubbed Aromatic Chest Rub by Badger into his back, feet, and armpits. It’s an essential oils balm I brought with me similar to Vicks Vapor Rub, only because the oils are natural vs. synthetic menthol it works so much more powerfully than Vicks. Within half an hour it seemed to have a positive effect on his ease of breathing, oxygen saturation level, and heart rate. His heart rate had been too high for several days from breathing distress, but since beginning this therapy it has continued at the lower rate because of easier breathing (Mac is on a continuous monitor and has oxygen when needed).

Here’s a visual on the chest rub:

If you use it in the future, rub it into your feet as they absorb so well and it will be used by the lungs.

Also on Monday, we introduced a high-potency vitamin A drop to baby Mac. Started with a single drop; 12,500 A palmitate. He tolerated it just fine, and his fever broke, although it is difficult to correlate that with just that one measure. Nonetheless, since this is so effective in immune support and lung health, Mrs. Mom has been dosing him at 2 drops twice daily. She has been giving him d3 for some time now, which is a balancing vitamin for the A.

(Using Bio-Ae-Mulsion Forte by Biotics Research Corp.)

By dinner time he was smiley and happy to sit in the high chair at the table with the rest of the family. To my utter delight, he drank about .5 ounce of bone/veggie/butter broth from a bottle.

Here he is:

The remaining 2 ounces Mrs. Mom gave to him by bolus feeding. We had determined that it had about 115 calories, whereas his formulas have 75 calories for 3.2 ounces. Although this alone is not a substitute for formula, as a supplement of “real” food it is very nourishing in ways the formula isn’t, and seemed to be absorbed better/faster and yet keep him more satiated. All around success! His mom has continued to dose this to him twice a day while we research homemade food based formulas (WestonAPrice.org is our info source).

Mac has gained 4.5 ounces since beginning the broth (48 hours), which is great for this little guy, but we are still crossing our fingers, as this is obviously just the beginning. Also, he had been throwing ketones in his urine (a sign of insufficient calorie intake as he consumed his own stores of fat). Since beginning the broth he has tested negative for urine ketones.

Here’s the bolus feeding.

This baby has had so many prayers from hundreds of people and we just praise God for each day with Mac. I’m grateful to have this week to be enjoying him and his family.

Mr. Dad eats and leaves for the office. The kids pick at their food…they seem to want fruit more than protein, which won’t make them feel so great during the day, but at least we aren’t giving in to the constant requests for toast, cereal, and commercial yogurt. I did coax Sister to eat about half her eggs by helping her pretend they were miniature pieces of toast which we spread butter on. Not sure if I’m a brilliant child psychologist, or a shamelessly deceptive aunt. Perhaps both.

Mrs. Mom is still reeling from a week in the hospital with baby, so 10 is her rising time. It’s likely she’ll have this schedule for quite some time as adrenals this fatigued need morning sleep (I know; been there, done that). Hopefully a nourishing diet with lots of snacks (no low blood sugar) will help in the weeks to come.

The sausages were total hits with the kids. Adults enjoy the chicken salad. I feel a lot better that everyone has enough protein. During the afternoon, the kids snack on raisins, apples, and bananas, while playing outside and becoming delightfully dirty.

Melt 1 stick of butter on stove (this can be skimmed to make ghee, if you are avoiding the casein).

With blender running on high, and lid on but center of lid removed, pour a small stream of butter into the egg mixture. This should be done very slowly to allow the butter oil to emulsify into the sauce. It will make a pourable sauce, which will harden into mayo in the fridge.

Note: this recipe has raw egg, so is a higher risk for salmonella poisoning. I only use fresh pastured eggs from a farm I visit/trust to have healthy organic birds. raw egg has some benefits in absorb-able proteins and vitamins. However, you must decide this risk/benefit decision for yourself. It’s possible that using boiling butter would actually pasteurize the egg…but I’m not sure about that.

Dinner:Chicken Veggie Soup made with bone broth started yesterday

Sautee 1 chopped onion, 2 lbs chopped carrots, and 1 bunch chopped celery in a stick of butter in a large soup pot. I do it until the sugars are released/begin to caramelize, about 30 minutes, while stirring occasionally. Add strained bone broth directly from crockpot where it’s been stewing since the night before. Add chopped chicken from last night. Salt with coarse sea salt, about 1 tsp, then wait 5 minutes for it to dissolve, then add more if the broth flavor tastes bland or sweet. Add water if there is not enough broth ratio for veggies and chicken.

After Dinner Treat:Grape Jello made yesterday

The kids ate their soup, although they didn’t relish it like the adults did. But the kids loved the jello (of course); Brother said “I could eat this all day!”

Tasks:
Cook and serve the above meals
Remove sour cream from warm oven at 24 hours
Begin 2 qts of yogurt in warm oven (with yogourmet starter and raw cow milk, 110 degree oven, for 24 hours; I make it in glass quart jars for easy transfer to the fridge when done)

It’s super late here…should have blogged earlier, but I went shopping with my sister instead. 🙂 But before I hit the sack I wanted to catch you up a little with how things have been going.

I arrived here Sunday afternoon, and began cooking right away. However, American Family had already been eating “normally” for breakfast and lunch, so that didn’t really count as our first day of SCD.

Mrs. Mom had already read up on SCD on sites like Pecanbread.com, but Mr. Dad wanted me to give him the bottom line on the diet restrictions (no grains, starches, sweets save honey and fruit, or dairy save homemade 24 hour cultured or hard aged cheese). His eyebrows shot up when I told him many people eat this way for at least 6 months to two years to heal their immune systems. But he’s been a really good sport about all the restrictions and substitutions; these parents will need to decide themselves when they and their children are OK to ease up on this healing diet.

Here’s what we cleared out of the spice cabinet. Criminal suspects in the ingredient lists: sugar, corn syrup, starch of any kind, hvp (hydrolized vegetable protein from soy), corn meal, soy of any kind.

And here’s what’s left: the single ingredient herbs and spices and a few pure blends, natural salts (as opposed to bleached salt which often has sugar and starch added), vinegar, tobasco sauce.

Fortunately Mrs. Mom likes to cook (when she’s not in and out of the hospital) so we have plenty of spices to work with here without using up the food budget on new ones.

My sister’s family is a classic middle-American family. She’s a stay at home mom with a photography business on the side, he’s a worker’s comp attorney who switched firms a few years back so he could spend more time with his wife and kids. We’ll call them Mrs. Mom and Mr. Dad.
Their super-cute kids are six and four; a boy and a girl. He has a vivid imagination, and may be a cowboy or superhero on any given day, and also waxes philosophical at times. She is a snuggly princess, who is fairly low maintenance if she knows mama and daddy love her. We’ll call them Brother and Sister. Baby Mac was introduced to you in the last post.
Like many middle-American families, they have a list of health challenges, even without counting the Spina Bifida saga. Mom and Dad both suffer from multiple seasonal, food, and environmental allergies; Brother has has episodes of seizures and fixation/stemming (Tourette’s like) since infancy. Sister has a small jaw with crowded teeth. Baby Mac needs to gain weight; after losing weight and requiring extra calories for tissue healing at each of his hospital stays, he currently weighs less than his cousin (my baby girl) who is six months younger than him. Here’s a picture of the two babies side by side.

Our hope is that the Specific Carbohydrate Diet can make an effect on these symptoms through cleansing of pathogens, gut healing, replacement of positive gut flora and the ensuing immune boost and enhanced mineral, vitamin, and calorie absorption.
Up next: our kitchen and pantry clean out.

About Me

Hi, I'm Bronwyn, mom of six creative kids and wife to an amazing man. I love the Lord Jesus and I'm passionate about being a good steward of our planet by creating a happy, healthy home for my family. I believe the loving care of women everywhere will craft a healthier future for the next generation.